Years of travel could help BioEnterprise's new leader become the biomedical community's head diplomat

Aram Nerpouni, who on Sept. 1 became interim president at BioEnterprise Corp., has traveled all over the world and likes trying “to see the world through other people's eyes.”

Don't go quizzing Aram Nerpouni on pop culture trivia from his youth.
During the late 1970s, his family moved from Boston to Greece. Then to Germany. And then to Bahrain.
So — other than “The Muppets” and “Rawhide” reruns — he didn't catch a lot of American TV. Instead, he picked up a taste for a world beyond Boston and a desire to understand people who have different points of view.
“I find it very interesting to try to see the world through other people's eyes,” said Mr. Nerpouni, who has visited 35 countries.
That trait could come in handy. Mr. Nerpouni, 42, on Sept. 1 became interim president of BioEnterprise Corp. He replaces longtime president Baiju Shah, who left the Cleveland nonprofit to help launch BioMotiv LLC, a development company in Shaker Heights.
The ability to unite people who have different points of view is critical for someone in the president's role at BioEnterprise, which aims to help build Northeast Ohio's biomedical industry. It was created partly as a way to spark collaboration among local hospital systems that compete with one another. Representatives from the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals and Summa Health System all sit on the BioEnterprise board.
The organization also works with biomedical technology companies that focus on different sectors and are spread all across Northeast Ohio, with investors from all over the globe.
Mr. Nerpouni has the diplomatic skills needed to work with so many different groups, said Brad Whitehead, president of the Fund for Our Economic Future, a collection of Northeast Ohio philanthropic groups that helps fund BioEnterprise's work.
“This is a person that can travel well in a diverse set of audiences,” Mr. Whitehead said.

A familiar face

Although Mr. Nerpouni's title technically is “interim” president, he could be around for a while.
In August, just after BioEnterprise announced he would fill the position, The Plain Dealer quoted BioEnterprise chairman Joe Scaminace as saying the nonprofit currently is not looking for a new leader. Through a representative at BioEnterprise, Mr. Scaminace — who also is CEO of OM Group Inc., a Cleveland-based specialty chemicals company — declined to say anything else about the title.
BioEnterprise promoted from within. Mr. Nerpouni previously was its vice president of strategic development, a job that among other things involved heading up new initiatives. He also was vice president of business development at the group from 2005 through 2009, when he left to help launch the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron. The institute is comprised of five Akron-area institutions — Akron Children's Hospital, Summa Health System, Akron General Health System, Northeast Ohio Medical University and the University of Akron — that are working together to commercialize products, especially those related to biomaterials.
During his first stint at BioEnterprise, Mr. Nerpouni commuted from Chagrin Falls to the nonprofit's Akron office, a role that helped bridge a perceived gap between the Cleveland and Akron bioscience communities, Mr. Whitehead said.
Mr. Nerpouni also quickly realized how much the Future Fund and the other philanthropies that finance BioEnterprise care about inclusion and equal access to opportunity, Mr. Whitehead said. For instance, he took a lead role in putting together the first Minority Biomedical Entrepreneurship Conference, which was held this past May in Cleveland. The conference was national in scope but addressed a problem that exists locally.
“He could see the local challenge in its larger frame,” Mr. Whitehead said.

Global citizen

One might say Mr. Nerpouni's taste for all things international is in his blood. Born in Boston in 1970, his paternal grandfather was Armenian, and his paternal grandmother was Irish. Both were immigrants. His mom's parents were Irish/Scottish and French-Canadian.
He traveled so much as a child because of his father's job. Jim Nerpouni worked for building products maker Tremco Inc. of Beachwood, selling their products in the northeastern United States. That job required the family to move to Greece, then Germany, then Bahrain over a five-year period. In the process, he even got to spend six weeks in Iran, because Tremco was providing products for the palace of the Shah.
His family moved to Chagrin Falls when they returned to the United States in 1983. After graduating from University School, he moved to the West Coast to attend Stanford University. He earned his bachelor's degree in biology in 1992 and promptly moved again, this time to New York City, where he worked as an analyst for a retained search firm.
He returned home in 1996, just as his father was leaving Tremco. That opened the door for a new opportunity: The two men co-founded Innovative Resource Group, which helped materials and coatings companies export their goods. Jim Nerpouni focused on Asia and his son covered Latin America.
“It was a true entrepreneurial experience,” Aram Nerpouni said.
He left the company in 2002 to join one of its clients, cosmetics maker The Bonne Bell Co. in Westlake, where he focused on international business and marketing. Three years later, he was offered a position at BioEnterprise.
At the time, a lot of excitement was building around innovation starting to come out of the institutions in University Circle, Mr. Nerpouni said. Joining BioEnterprise looked like a good way to become part of the movement, he said.

The need for talent

Mr. Nerpouni wouldn't say much about any future plans for BioEnterprise, noting how little time he has spent as interim president. The nonprofit has given him a good foundation to build on, he said, noting that the amount of investment dollars flowing into health care companies annually is now regularly in the $150 million range, up from about $30 million per year when BioEnterprise was started in 2002.
A big challenge that still vexes local biomedical companies is a lack of talent, said Mr. Nerpouni, who estimated that those businesses have “a couple thousand” open positions. That's why BioEnterprise this year started holding online job fairs every quarter, he said.
“The growth (of local companies) is outpacing the supply of work force at all levels,” he said.
Mr. Nerpouni said he's a fan of efforts to recruit Israeli companies to Northeast Ohio and to help get visas for immigrants that want to invest in the United States. He's also a big supporter of the under-construction Cleveland Medical Mart, saying it could be a “great opportunity” for Northeast Ohio to showcase how much progress it has made related to biomedical innovation.
He still loves to travel, but don't expect him to leave BioEnterprise for another country anytime soon. Once he started having kids — he and his wife, Tina, have two daughters, Olivia, 9, and Isabel, 6 — he decided to put down roots.
“I was realizing I liked to be home more than I liked to be traveling at that point,” he said.